The desire to wolf down Pork Belly is a compulsion that may seize the foodie when flicking through Delicious magazine.
The August version had a lovely Penang Pork Belly recipe by chef Christopher Ong. The ingredients were accesible and the instructruction looked simple enough, but there is a lot of time needed to marinade and cook the pork until “the pork is tender and almost falling apart”. I knew the moment I saw it I MUST try it.
Pirochan and Evilhayama came over for an improptu dinner party last night and were incredibly patient as the fragrant of pork marinated in clove, cinnamon and star anise tortured us for the hour or so of slow cooking.
I made a simple bok choy stir fry and rice to go with it. My guests brought a bootle of Glenwillow Cabernet Merlot, 2005 that went surprisingly well with the dish and a warm and breezy September evening.
Taste wise it was pretty damn good, can really taste all the aromatic slices as well as the kecap manis soaked nicely throughout the pork. If I had more time and patience I would probably let it simmer for an extra half hour for good measure and be a more dilligent about adding dashes of water so the sauce doesn’t congeal as quickly.
You might want to check out this blog that tried the same recipe with suggestion of wine to match.
The only thing I changed in the recipe was substituting mirin for Chinese rice wine, but I don’t think it made much of a difference.
mirgraphy 
Yummo looking pork belly, mir! Mmm.. don’t know why but now I feel like having some bbq ribs!
Y.
My entire apartment smells like cinnamon for the rest of the week! Not hard since it’s pretty small, smelling it every day makes me feel as if I’m eating every day unfortunately XD I doubt I’ll have BBQ for a while.
Mirin would have made it slightly sweeter IMHO =)
Delicious is a most excellent magazine for foodie ideas – I’ve had a subscription for the last 3 years.
Will have to try next time with Chinese rice wine and see what happens. Agree about Delicious, I wouldn’t mind a subscription myself, but the occasional would do for now.